TUESDAY TALK: How Lucy Jessop is at the heart of the matter

Tracey Jessop-Thompson, Jordan Graham, Sophie Stone and head teacher Richard Long outside The Deepings School where a cardiac testing weekend led by CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) took place in memory of former student Lucy Jessop.''Photo by Tim Wilson. SG160917-267TW.

There were no warning signs whatsoever that Lucy Jessop would be one of 12 people aged 14 to 35 who die in the UK every week from undiagnosed cardiac conditions.

Lucy, of Northborough, a village within two miles from Deeping St James, was just 18 when a jog on the afternoon of Wednesday, February 25, 2015, led to a life-threatening heart problem which ended in tragedy after five days in hospital.

Now, however, the searing devastation still felt by Lucy’s family and friends, including her mother Tracey Jessop-Thompson and Sophie Stone, of Frognall, has been channelled into preserving the science student’s memory with the help of a charity. Specialists from CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young), the charity driven by the alarming cardiac death rates among 14 to 35-year-olds, were guests of The Deepings School where Lucy studied to conduct heart screening on its target age group.

Tracey said: “Lucy wanted to be a pharmacist because she really liked science and so her A-Level subjects were biology, chemistry and maths.

“She always did her homework first so that she knew what free time she would have because Lucy also had a party side to her.

“People knew her as the ‘Selfie Queen’ because she just liked having people around and she always had a smile on her face.

“It allowed us to raise the profile of cardiac testing among our students as a tribute to Lucy who tragically died due to an undiagnosed heart condition.

“We were thrilled that over the two days of September 16 and 17, 200 tests were undertaken and I would like to pay tribute to Lucy’s family and friends for their amazing fundraising efforts which enabled this event to take place.

“It is really important for us as a school to be at the heart of the local community and after hosting this event, I would like to thank CRY, Lucy’s family and friends on behalf of the young people from the Deepings who have benefited.”